Marriage From Hell
by JunkieFiction
Summary: Gaara and Ino have an arranged marriage, total chaos. You'll have to read it I suck at summaries. It's my first Naruto Fan fic.
1. The nighmare begins XD

Well I haven't posted a story in ageees I'm really behind. But anyway I thought I'd start with a Naruto one. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, or Saw 3. Disclaimers make me feel so lame. ;;

(I do not know Gaara's surname so I made it up. I'm so sorry... and I know he hates his father but yeah, these stories don't have to make sense! I hope the characters are not too OOC)

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_He's looking at me, staring… no, even worse; glaring. Glaring at me with those icy blue eyes of his. I can actually feel them observing on my skin; it's like he's observing every part of me… oh god if this keeps up I'm going to freak out! I can already feel my cheeks lighting up like a neon tomato! Why won't he just quit it? His eyes are burning a trail on my skin by their movement. And to make things worse, my heart is racing… this. is. bad. I wonder if he's thinking the same thing as I am right now. That this is stupid and ridiculous! Although he probably isn't I mean look at him, he's so cool and calm about this whole thing, as usual. No sign of emotion whatsoever, yep that's Gaara for you. I have to get out of here, my cheeks are burning up it must look ridiculous. I cannot stay in the same room as him any longer, not when he's glaring at me like that! God what am I going to do…_

"Phew! Is it hot in here or what?! I'm going to go open a wind- ack!"

"You're not going anywhere missy… now Kazekage-sama, where were we? Oh yes, we would be so honored to have your son join our family, and I am sure my daughter will make a fine wife, we have raised her well you know!" Mrs. Yamanaka was giggling as she spoke to her soon to be in law.

"I am sure you have, and I'm pleased to say that the feeling is mutual. This is sure to be a most amazing wedding, right Gaara?" He was glaring at his son, who kept his eyes fixed on the flustered girl before him.

He then mumbled a "whatever" and continued to glare, making her feel even more uncomfortable than she already was.

"I think we should give the two a little 'alone-time'" Mrs. Yamanaka grinned as she said this and budged her daughter.

"No, no we're okay; we have known each other since we were little after all dear mother and I'm sure they have better things to do than – mother, mother listen to me where are you…" but the two soon to be in-laws had left regardless of the girl's desperate pleas.

Ino stood facing the door for a moment, then turned around to see Gaara look right at her. Her cheeks fired up again.

She cleared her throat.

"Heyyy Gaara, aren't you so siked about this? We're engaged to be married! Eheheheh…." She said wearing a fake smile.

Gaara didn't reply.

Ino then sat down as far away as she could from him. She tried to make conversation again.

"So… what's your favorite colour?" she avoided making eye contact with him.

Still there was no reply.

"I see. Well if for any reason you don't want to go through with this marriage don't hesitate to let anyone and everyone know, I'll be fieeen… what are you doing?!"

She shrieked as the boy got up and began to approach her.

He was so close to her that he could feel her breath against his skin; he then placed his hand under her chin to lift her head up. His eyes were looking directly into hers.

"We are going through with this whether you like it or not and there is _nothing_ you can do to change that. Do you understand?" He said in a slow monotone, his voice was threatening.

"Y-yes sir." Ino replied.

Gaara then moved back and walked out of the room, leaving Ino terrified.

'_This is horrible, why do these things always happen to me?! How are you going to get yourself out of this one Ino?" _

**The next day….**

"Ino! Wake up you have to get ready, he's going to be here any moment now!! Hurryyy." Shouted Ino's mother from across the house.

Ino opened one eye and yawned lazily.

"What time is it? Can't I have five more minutes……" she said to herself.

"Innnooo!!"

"I'M COMING!" She finally switched, got out of bed and walked to the kitchen in her pj's.

She opened the fridge and was about to get some food when it almost shut on her hand.

"Are you out of your mind?! What was that!?" she screamed at her mother.

"You can't be thinking about food! You're going to get fat you need to look good today!!" her mother screamed back.

"Why the heck would I need to do that? and for your information, I am a hungry human being who spend more than 10 hours without food, what else am I going to be thinking of!?"

"You and Gaara are supposed to be going out today, he'll be here really soon! Go get dressed quickly, put something nice on and do something with that hair, you look like a cat that just got out of a tumble drier." Her mother said really quickly.

"Mom that is so lame and I don't…. Wait, did you say I'm going on a date with Gaara today? Whaaaattt?! Why wasn't I told about this?! Arghhhh I hate you!" and with that, Ino had stormed off into her room.

Her mother simply looked at her frustrated daughter with a loving look on her face. She sighed. '_Ahh, young love.' _She thought.

Ino had come out of her room, wearing a purple mini skirt with a backless white kimono-like shirt and lots of accessories on her hands. She had decided to leave her long hair out.

She waited around miserably, thinking of how dull her day would be.

'_Great I'm stuck with Mr. If looks could kill, all day. Urgh we'll probably just sit there for ages in silence the whole day, he's so urgh. I bet he wont even make the slightest effort, I mean sheesh if he wasn't so damn right scary I'd actually find him kind of cute but noooo he had to go be possessed by some weird spirit. I hope he doesn't kill anything… or anyone. I hate this sooo much.'_

Her thoughts were cut short as a knock was heard on the door. Ino went to answer it, pondering whether she should pretend to be sick or something to get out of it. Eventually she answered the door and saw Gaara's feet, as she dreaded making eye-contact with him.

"H-hi there Gaara, you finally came." She said, somewhat sarcastically – as if what she really meant to say was "Hi Gaara, oh such a shame you didn't mysteriously disappear into the wilderness never to be found by anyone again".

She sighed as she slowly began to look up and make eye-contact. When she did, she was most surprised. '_Wow… he looks REALLY good. Maybe today won't be so bad after all.' _

"Tch, typical." He remarked as he looked down at her short skirt.

Ino twitched a little; he clearly didn't find her attractive at all, despite how hard she'd tried. At that moment she just wanted to crawl into a hole with a bag over her head. He seemed to have a gift – he didn't need to say anything, one look would let one know exactly what he though of you. Ino took back the thought that this day would not be too bad. '_This day is doomed for disaster. He hates it already… not that I like it… well I might like the way he looks. He's still freaky as hell so whatever!'_

**A while later…**

"What do you want to do?" Gaara asked as they were walking in silence.

"Umm I know! Let's go watch a movie… if that's okay with you that is… there's this new romantic comedy I've wanted to-"

"A movie. Fine."

When they approached the cinema, the snack counter caught Ino's eyes and caused them to widen immensely. She felt her stomach rumble, she was so hungry. So she asked Gaara if he minded booking the movie, while she got the food.

A couple of minutes later, Gaara gave Ino a questioning look at the amount of food she'd managed to carry. Ino grinned sheepishly.

"My mom wouldn't let me eat this morning, she said I had to look good for you." She rolled her eyes.

Gaara raised an eyebrow; he then smirked and helped her out by carrying some of it.

'_Wow… is it just me or is there a little chemistry. Hehe, he's actually being nice. And he doesn't look half bad when he's smil… err smirking.' _

Ino was looking at Gaara as they were walking to their screen room. When they reached there, they sat down quite close to the front and to the center. She began to eat her popcorn as she waited for the movie to begin. She assumed that they were going to be watching the romantic comedy she was talking to Gaara about earlier on. Oh how wrong she was…

_**WARNING; THIS MOVIE CONTAINS SCENES OF EXTREME AND DISTURBUNG VIOLENCE. ANYONE WHO IS FAINT-HEARTED IS NOT RECOMMENDED TO CONTINUE VIEWING. OTHER THAN THAT, PLEASE ENJOY YOUR CHOSEN MOVIE AND THANK YOU FOR CHOSING JUN-KUN CINEWORLD AS YOUR MOVIE PROVIDER! **(Please make sure all mobile phones are switched off.)_

SAW THREE.

Ino's heart almost stopped and she felt her face go pale.

"S-saw three….. Gaara…. Wwhy are we – ARRRGGGH!!" She screamed and grasped Gaara's arm tightly.

"Will you get off me, it hasn't even started yet." He sounded calm though Ino could tell he was glaring at her.

She released her grip on his arm and began biting her nails. She had no idea how she was going to get through this movie. '_I should have known a freak like him would have chosen a psycho movie like this one... owwww.'_

Throughout it, she was trying hard to cover her eyes so that she had no visual image of what was going on. However it was an extremely difficult task, especially since Gaara was constantly laughing and letting her know exactly how gruesome it was to the finest detail. She had to admit, he did have a way with words… when he was talking about sadistic things that was.

The movie was finally over. Gaara walked out back to his normal self, although somewhat excited about what he'd seen. He was followed by a pale, disturbed female, who looked like she'd walked to hell and back ten times over. She took small slow steps behind Gaara; her eyes were wide and fixed in one place. She shook her fear off and looked at Gaara hatefully.

'_That bastard and here was me thinking he was actually NICE for a couple of seconds. How stupid can you get! I'll show that sadistic freak. It's Ino time! Chayh!' _

Ino tapped Gaara on the shoulder; he turned his head slightly and glared at her.

"Umm Heh Heh that movie was great… but I was wondering can we please go somewhere less err… psychotic now. Like a restaurant. I am starving… If that's okay with you that is…" she said ever so politely and timidly.

"Whatever" Gaara replied simply.

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That's all for now. Next chapter comming soon. It's a weird chapter but it is like 4am at the moment. Gaah. 


	2. Getting to know each other uhh

Here you have it kids, Chapter 2! I can't think up a good name for it, gomen.

Before you start can someone explain to me what an AU is? I get confused people keep asking my if that's what my stories are. I have a vague idea because I know it stands for Alternate Universe but still... it'd be muchos appreciated. Thanks for the reviews! This chapter is abit long.

**Disclaimer:** I like doing these. I do not own Narutooo... I do own the stupid little legend though. You'll know what I mean as you read on I don't want to spoil.

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The couple were now heading to the closest ramen bar; Ino had a big smile on her face, whereas Gaara was watching her unnervingly. She was rambling on about something, which Gaara didn't care to listen to properly. He always thought of his father as an idiot, but to match him up with a female like her? The only reasonable thing he could think of was that he was hoping her crazy-loud mouth rambling would eventually drive him so mad he'd end up killing himself or just die of insanity… although the main reason was to win back the trust of Konoha, somehow.

She seemed to be getting used to him, _too _used to him for his liking. To make matters worse it had only hardly been a day, although Gaara was truly going easy on her. Did he feel sorry for her? Nahh. He did have his reasons though.

They finally made it to the ramen stand, it happened to be a nice sunny afternoon so they had set up seats around the stand and there were quite a few people there – a lot of familiar faces too. As the two walked by, everyone suddenly went silent in complete shock, some in complete fear. Ino had stopped talking and her cheeks were burning up at the fact that she and Gaara were the center of attention – she had temporarily forgotten who she was accompanied by, what he was about to become to her (husband) and what kind of person he was (psycho killer).

Suddenly, the silence was broken by obnoxious laughter coming from a certain hyperactive individual.

"Ino and Gaara? An item?!" Shouted Naruto.

Ino began to twitch, whereas Gaara just looked at the blonde boy lazily.

"Ahahahahaahahahaha! Aah that was a good laugh… More ramen please!" Naruto ordered his 10th bowl of ramen.

"_Grrrr stupid Naruto, he's going to pay for that stupid remark. How dare he laugh at my ill-fated situation! Why did everyone have to be here!? Of all the restaurants in Konoha!"_

"Are you just going to stand there with that ugly look on your face? Hurry up and order something." Gaara said coldly to Ino, who had gotten lost in her thoughts.

"WHAAAA?! How dare you call me ugly you arrogant asswhipe! At least… at least… _damnit there's nothing wrong with him…_at least my hair isn't red!"

……. Of course that's what Ino would have liked to have said, given that she'd come up with a better insult… but she just didn't have the guts….

"Do you want to repeat that……" - enter horrific chibi image of Ino dying very gruesomely by Gaara-

…. Because she then imagined the above happening. So instead she quickly and quietly ordered the food she wanted and sat down opposite her soon to be freaky husband. During that time most of the people there were following them with their eyes, still in complete fear/shock… well they were following Ino with their eyes, no one dared make eye contact with Gaara.

And Ino understood why. As she looked at him, she noticed his eye twitch slightly and his fists were clenched. She didn't like what she heard next.

"Why… are they all starring?" he said quietly, although his voice suggested that it was more of an excuse to begin a massacre.

Clearly the movie they had watched had excited him abit too much, which meant that anything could trigger his murderous intentions at this moment.

"H-hey Gaara… what did you get? To eat I mean." Ino attempted to get his mind of it.

His eyes turned to her. His hands then loosened from their clenched position.

"Hn." was all he muttered, rather sarcastically.

Ino grinned to hide her fear.

"Heh-heh yeah what else, we're at a ramen stand." She answered her own question.

After a while of awkward silence, on Ino's behalf anyway, their food finally arrived. Ino sighed.

"_Oh that felt like an eternity…" _

Gaara raised an eyebrow slightly at the amount of food on his partner's half of the table. It seemed that she ate more than Naruto!

"………… How are you going to fit that in after the cinema snacks?" Gaara questioned curiously.

Ino furrowed her brows.

"Well while _someone _was too busy laughing his ass off at that psychopathic excuse of a movie to notice, I was busy trying to block everything out so I couldn't eat. If I had eaten something then I would have ended up puking all over you and I'm sure you wouldn't have liked that which means that I DEFINITLY would have liked it… if you know what I mean."

Gaara just continued to look at her; she had a point. He would have probably killed her there and then, although to say that he would be being modest – with the mood the movie had set, he would have done much worse than simply kill her.

"Sure…"

Ino turned her attention to the food, her eyes widened; she was SO hungry. It had been so long since she'd eaten properly, she could literally eat the whole ramen stand! She picked up her chop sticks and was about to dig in when she paused. A certain feeling overtook her again, it was one that made her feel awkward and uncomfortable and she didn't like one bit. She looked up to meet Gaara's eyes.

He was just looking at her, like he was when her mother and his father were discussing the marriage. The look where she could feel his eyes burn on her skin…. She couldn't eat while he was doing that!

"Err… aren't you going to… you know, eat?" she said.

Gaara just continued to glare at her and furrowed his brows slightly, he was now giving her a "are you seriously trying to tell me what to do?" look, so Ino quickly tried to explain herself.

"Err not that I'm telling you to… I know that came out bad I'm sorry. I just meant that you know because were…"

"Be quiet." He interrupted. He then removed his hands from before his face and picked up his chopsticks.

Ino sighed. She had no idea how long she was going to live if things kept going the way they were… she was amazed she was still able to use all her bones properly with the amount of times she's bothered him. Maybe he didn't like to hit girls? So her gender was like a good luck charm for her. Although she highly doubted that was the case.

She was about to eat but she felt his eyes again. She didn't want to bother him again, but she couldn't waste all of the food she'd ordered. She decided she'd just force feed herself, which was kinda difficult because the awkwardness and fear was making her hand tremble. So eventually, after realizing that it just wasn't going to work, she put her chopsticks on the table and just sat there quietly. She had her head down and it was slightly covered by her long, glossy hair so Gaara couldn't see her face properly.

He placed his chopsticks down too and continued to stare at her. Ino was getting extremely aggravated.

"_What is up with this guy?! Before he was scary as hell, now he's just annoying. Arghh if this goes on I'm gonna tear my face off! I have to get out of this marriage… I just have to! But how do I…"_

Ino was cut of her thought at the obnoxious sounds of hiccups. She lifted her head quickly, and turned to see who it was; Naruto! The idiot had eaten too much, too fast again and had a bad case of hiccups.

She shook her head, and turned to face Gaara. His eyes had moved towards Naruto for a second too, but now he just continued to gaze at her. Ino wanted to smirk at the thought that just crossed her mind.

"_Heh, one minute he calls me ugly, the next he can't take his eyes off me! Silly little fool…at least I'm safe to make witty comments inside my mind..." _

Ino rested her chin on her hand and began to play with her food, since she couldn't eat it.

He eyes then fell on the table across which was where Sasuke and Sakura were sitting… she figured the three of them (including Naruto) had decided to hang out together, but it was so obvious that those two were so much more than just friends. Although Sasuke didn't like to show it much, it was obvious by the way he was looking at her. Ino's face turned red with anger and jealousy… she wanted that so badly... she'd always dreamed of what it would be like to have someone who cared like that, and that it would last forever… and eventually have what every girl dreamed of - a perfect wedding, with the perfect guy… the rest of their life didn't even have to be perfect; just that day. And whatever came their way after that, they'd get through it because of the strong bond that kept them together… and they'd –

SMACK!

Ino shrieked and almost fell of her chair; she was immediately snapped back from her daydreaming and saw Gaara standing up. He had hit the table hard with his hand. Ino was staring at him in complete shock and gave him a questioning look.

"W-what happened?" she said, trying to get her breath back.

Gaara glared at her, he looked pissed off. He began to speak.

……….

"You bore me" he said.

Ino continued to look at him blankly, and raised an eyebrow.

"So you hit the table because…..?"

Gaara shrugged.

"You looked too… I didn't like it. Do you want me to kill him?"

Ino's eyes widened… what the hell was he talking about?

"What?! Kill who? And why would I want you to kill someone?!"

"Sasuke Uchiha. The way you were looking at him…"

Ino's heart was racing… could he see that watching Sasuke made her unhappy that she'd never have him? If he wanted to kill him for her, surely it meant that he didn't like to see her upset and possibly vague signs of jealousy. Somewhat, in a weird twisted kind of way, that was so… so romantic.

"… You looked happy." Gaara finished.

Ino's eyes widened, could it be that he really was jealous?

"It's really depressing when you're happy like that. I do not like it." Gaara stated.

Ino sweat dropped.

She couldn't have been more wrong if she tried. It was all in self interest. And clearly the whole staring game was part of "confirming his existence" if it made other people feel bad, it made him feel good. He was probably so used to people fearing him; he must have learned to get some kind of twisted enjoyment from it.

Ino mumbled things quietly as she began to stand up. She packed all the food and decided to take it with her as a takeaway. _It's really depressing when you're happy like that. _She kept hearing his cold, calm voice in her head – and it made her shiver. She still couldn't figure out what was up with him, but one thing was for sure… she did not want to go through with the marriage. It wasn't even a matter of giving him a chance. He didn't want a chance, Ino could tell. He probably hated this marriage as much as she did, although then again it could have been that he didn't even care enough to hate it.

Ino was terrified of him, and she wasn't the only one; she couldn't believe her parents were willing to give her away to such a cold blooded person. Oh how she envied Sakura at the moment.

**- A tiny bit later- **

It had gotten quite dark now. Ino was thinking up places where Gaara would take her next… she figured it would probably be something like a graveyard.

Gaara was looking straight ahead with his usual pissed off facial expression. Ino figured she had nothing to lose.

"Hmph." She said, rather loudly to try and catch his attention.

But she failed.

"EHEM!" she tried again, coughing this time.

Still no reply.

"Huh!? Oh! Oh! What's that blood doing on the floor!" she figured it was the only thing that would work.

Gaara stopped walking now. Ino looked at him wide eyed. He turned to face her…

"What do you want?" he said, smirking slightly at her amusing attempt to get his attention.

Ino smiled.

"Umm I don't know. Gomen please don't kill me!" she said closing her eyes.

She slowly opened one eye, and saw that he wasn't about to kill her... he just stood there, the smirk had gone too. She sighed.

"You're not into this whole dating thing… are you?" she hesitated. "Well, how about we just… do something else, like… things that we can find out more about… each other."

She didn't understand what urged her to say that, she didn't know how good of an idea finding out about Gaara would be. But she figured since she'd have to spend the rest of her life with him she might as well try… and she knew her mother would kill her if she didn't make an effort.

Gaara continued to walk without giving any sign of whether he'd accepted or rejected her offer. Ino just followed him, and they were soon in some kind of park. They walked up to a hill, which was quite high; Gaara sat down when they reached the top of it. It was actually a cliff rather than a hill, but you wouldn't be able to tell that when walking up it. Ino was dumbfounded. The sight was so beautiful. A glowing full moon was visible in the dark blue sky which shone on the flower field bellow them. There must have been a million different species of flowers.

Ino turned to Gaara whose eyes were closed as he sat at the edge of the cliff. He didn't seem as intimidating anymore, especially by the way the moon light shone on him... Ino smiled pleasantly.

"You like flowers, don't you?" He said slowly.

"Y-yes… I do." Ino's features softened and she looked at the view lovingly. He accepted her offer after all.

"Good."

After a moment of silence and calm, Ino spoke the question that had bugged her for a moment.

"But, how does this place represent you?"

Gaara opened his eyes. He turned to smile at her… Ino was quite shocked, this time it wasn't a smirk or an evil grin it was an actual smile. She…. Spoke too soon; he's smile suddenly turned more demonic and freaky, as he looked away from her.

"I like the background and stories it holds." He began. "According to its legend, about a thousand years ago many people were brutally murdered here and the blood they all shed was used as a sacrifice. Of what is unknown, but the flowers represent every life taken, and their spirits are said to wander when there is a full moon above this land. Those assassins, especially. The killings are said to have happened at the same hour and time of year as right now."

Ino's face had paled.

"So you're saying this place is haunted?" she questioned.

Gaara nodded.

"What are we doing here?"

"You're going to help me; I want to find out more about the people who died here that night and the assassins…"

"Why?!" Ino snapped.

"Because, I want to…"

"You want to what, get us killed?!" she was shivering madly now.

"No, I want to meet the ones who share the same point and reason in life as I do."

"_Shared_, key word here Gaara… these people are dead!" Ino hugged her knees and began to rock back and forth.

She then began to laugh.

"You're kidding, right? You just want to scare me, heheh ghosts… there's no such thing as ghosts." She then gasped as she noticed Gaara's arm.

"Then what is that?" He was pointing at what appeared to be blue mist rising from the beautiful flowers.

Ino's eyes widened and she felt a lump on her throat. She wanted to scream but she was so terrified she couldn't. As the spirits began to rise, Gaara stood up and his smile turned into a freakish grin. A gust of wind blew as the spirits began to screech in tremendous pain. You could almost feel the suffering the people must have gone through… Gaara began to laugh menacingly.

"Do you want to find out more about me? Then listen to this, absorb it and let it thrill you… It's like a drug." He said, in an excited, deadly tone.

Ino's mouth was wide open… the things she was seeing at that moment were bad enough to send her to her grave. The knot in her stomach tightened so much it hurt. She wanted to die. Suddenly her eyes became fuzzy, the last thing she saw was Gaara and that demonic expression on his face, her world then went black.

* * *

Poor Ino-chan. I'm so sorry! Next chapter starts with a dream... Ooooh. 


	3. Troublesome, just because

Woo an update. I can't wait 'till I get to writing the wedding, I think I'll just do a time warp or something.

Thankyou for reviewing. They made me laugh some of them heeh.

**CHAPTER THREE**

Her eyes slowly opened at the sound of the familiar melody. Her vision was blurry as her eyes were half way open... she could vaguely see blurs of brown and white color. She felt someone's arm wrapped around hers – it was quite muscular and the person was clearly taller than her. She turned her head to her right and looked up only to be staring at her own father. Her eyes then opened widely.

He was wearing a suit and was smiling cheerfully at her. She looked to her left to see people standing up and looking at her smiling pleasantly, some of them were crying silently. Her eyes widened, she was now fully awake… a smile grew on her face. She looked ahead of her to see who was awaiting her at the alter. She saw a guy dressed in a formal black suit, black hair with a blue shine, tall and steady. She felt her heart race at the sight of him. Her eyes widened even more as she walked towards him… closer… she still had a way to go.

The man turned around to face her, his smile was amazingly charming and loving. His eyes were dark and his hair fell over them which caused Ino to almost melt. He was so unbelievingly handsome - she couldn't wait to say those words. She walked towards him still; closer… she was now just a couple of steps away.

"S-Sasuke…" she whispered.

He reached out his hand as he smiled… she took it and release her grip from her father. His hands were smooth and warm as he took both of hers and held them as he looked into her eyes with a tender facial expression. They then turned to face the priest, but everything he said was a blur, she was just staring at her handsome groom lovingly… she couldn't believe it, how lucky she was.

"If there are any objections to the joining of these two in marriage, please speak now before the eyes of God or hold your silence forever."

Those words echoed so vaguely… her stomach felt all fluttery at the thought of what was coming up.

"I do." She said, as he took her hand and placed the symbol of their eternal bond on her finger.

"You may now…"

_Finally _she thought…

He raised the veil from her face, his hand was approaching her face and he gently held her smooth cheek, pulling her closer towards him. Their lips interlocked as her heart began to skip a beat. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever felt, something she'd been waiting for, for such a long time. It felt so……

Bitter? She felt something strange in her mouth, something crunchy, it felt really disgusting and irritable… she felt like she was going to choke on it. It appeared to be sand. She opened her eyes suddenly and tried to push away from him… however what she saw made her gasp.

The man she was kissing was no longer the one she thought it was. His face cracked and pieces turned to sand as they fell to the floor. Blood red hair was revealed… he was no longer charming and loving; he was emotionless and cruel. He smirked.

"What's the matter? Are you scarred of me? _Sasuke uchiha_ no longer exists in this world, Ino." He said in an emotionless monotone.

Ino gasped. She tried to scream but she couldn't. She turned to her father, but he collapsed on the floor and became a pile of sand. Everyone around her was merely a shadow, the light happy feeling and atmosphere she felt before had changed.

Ino began to run in the opposite direction. But she tripped up and felt something grab her foot. It was rough and strong. She couldn't escape.

The sand pulled her back towards _Gaara…_ he watched her coldly, emotion lacking in his facial expression.

"Noooo!! I don't want to get married to you, leave me alone!" she screamed.

The sand wrapped around her waist and raised her so her eyes met Gaara's. He stood there, arms crossed, emotionless… yet she could see the bloodlust in his cold eyes… her breath was cut short as the sand tightened its grip around her wait.

Gaara's hand reached out and he gently removed her silky blond hair away from her eyes. He then caressed her face and continued to gaze at her.

"I _always_ get what I want. You have no choice..." he said softly.

"_And an objection won't help you now…"_ Gaara's lips didn't move to suggest he said that line, it kinda sounded like it just floated about in the atmosphere.

Ino's eye widened and she began to choke as the sand's grip tightened immensely. Gaara's harsh laugh was heard before she….

Fell of her bed.

……………..

"ARGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Ino screamed and jumped up from her sleeping position so hastily that she dropped of the bed… however she was tangled in her sheets so she fell face first.

She lay there breathing extremely heavily.

"Oww" she let out eventually. "That hurt…"

She tried to turn around but felt an excruciating pain as she did so; she had twisted and sat on her own arm.

"Ouch ouch ouch!"

She quickly turned over and tried to untangle herself without any success.

"_What the? How can someone tangle themselves this badly, even if that psychopath is in their dreams! Damn you Gaara…" _she cursed the boy in her mind whilst struggling to untangle herself with out any progress.

Eventually, her mother walked in the room and raised an eyebrow at her daughter.

"Ino dear, what are you doing?" she said as her daughter finally managed to free herself from the stubborn bed sheet.

"What does it look like mum? I had a nightmare and managed to get myself tangled now I'm freeing myself from the bed sheet okay?" she replied really quickly.

Her mother smiled and giggled.

"Aww, do you really miss Gaara-kun that much that it gives you nightmares? That's so adorable. Well I'm not surprised, what with him bringing you home last night while you were asleep in his arms and all, despite the fact that you were kind of covered in sand" her mother pondered that for a while, she then sighed. "Ahh, my baby's all grown up."

Ino's eye twitched a little. "_Bridal style my butt! I bet he got his stupid sand to carry me here, I'm done overestimating him in the subject of romance!"_

"Yeah we had a blast." Ino said sarcastically. "I don't have to see him 'till the wedding day now, do I mother?" she questioned.

"Oh fortunately for you, you don't have to wait that long. There's still a whole week! I've invited the Kazekage along with Gaara and his siblings over today, you'll get to see him. Although it's going to be a formal situation so you should keep..."

"Don't you worry about that mum." Ino interrupted, she knew what her mother was hinting at, things that ceased to exist and probably never would.

"Well anyway, you have to make a good impression on his family so be prepared. Also, I've invited some of your friends and other people from the family over, it'll be like a mini engagement party that's why you need to be double prepared and be at your best!" And on that note, her mother left the room.

Ino leaned against her bed and sighed as she raised her head and closed her eyes to go into some sort of blissful imaginary land. But alas, all she managed to see was Gaara's face like in her nightmare. She opened her eyes quickly as she realized something… her eyes began to tear up.

"I can't believe………….. He killed Sasuke-kun!!" she said.

Ino was now in her bathroom and had begun brushing her teeth. Suddenly, she started choking on the foam her toothpaste had made in her mouth… this is why you do not gasp whilst brushing your teeth.

"Mummm! MOTHER!!!!" she shouted as she run down the stairs.

However, she tripped up in the process and ended up skiing down the stairs on her butt.

"Ouchhh!!" she groaned.

Her mother popped her head out from the kitchen's window and stared at her daughter blankly.

"What's the matter now?" she said.

Ino took a deep breath.

"Did you say there's going to be a mini engagement party today?" she asked calmly.

"Uhh… Yes." Her mother was confused.

Ino nodded a couple of times.

"And you said you invited _his_ siblings and some of _my_ friends over?" she asked again.

"Yeah!" her mother smiled. "Isn't it exciting!?"

"Nooooooo it isn't! You don't understand! H-he's…. We're all going to die!"

"_With so many annoying people gathered up in one place… I can't stand it let alone him! Gaaah." _Ino then went into trance and began to walk to her room slowly, her hands dangling down like a zombie. (Just imagine her really, really depressed.)

However before she reached the stairs, she straightened up for a moment and turned to her mother again.

"Mother, did you happen to invite Sasuke-kun?" she said.

Her mother nodded smiling… she didn't seem to have taken notice at how odd her daughter was being.

"Well at least she did something smart and enjoyable for once… " Ino mumbled.

Just as she said this, her dream came back into her mind.

_I hope Gaara doesn't…_

**//Flashback.// **

"Do you want me to kill him for you? Sasuke Uchiha."

**//Flashback End.//**

Ino stared into space in horror for a moment. She then shook her head.

"Nahhh!" she said out loud, which earned her another confused/weird look from her mother. _Although I wouldn't put it past him…no Ino don't think about that! Bad Ino! Oh crap, I'm talking to myself in my mind, I think I'm losing it… pft it's all because-_

SMACK

Ino walked into the wall so hard, that her nose began to throb and turn a reddish colour. She sighed as she touched her nose gingerly.

_I'm too lazy to cry out in pain this time. _

"What is the matter with that girl? I guess it's what infatuation does to people." Her mother said quietly to herself as she continued to busy herself in the kitchen.

Dah-da!


	4. The best man

Yay here's chapter 4, it took long because I got stuck on an irrelevant part, haha... sorry.

I'm not doing disclaimers anymore for this story, I own Naruto in this and future chapters as much as I own the first three, which is not at all, zilch, none, nada.

Enjoy.

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**Chapter Four:** The best man.

_She was sitting on her window starring at the vast blue sky. She was thinking about the events that were to occur that night, trying to think of reasons for why it shouldn't happen, and surprisingly enough, reasons why it should. She couldn't help but think about him. What was he doing at this time? How did he feel about her and tonight? Had he even taken it under account? She wished she could understand him, she really wanted to._

_She sighed; the wind blew her hair to one side…_

_Reasons for why tonight should happen? There weren't any, she was just being foolish and naïve. // Liar…// _

_She didn't want to admit that there were reasons for why it should happen, because they didn't matter. //They do matter…//_

"_They don't. Not to him anyway..."_

"Gaah this movie is so lame! Get your butt out of that room and show that bastard how you feel! Silly little girl." Ino screamed at her TV.

"Oh, wait… That does kinda sound abit familiar… apart from the mushy stuff; it sounds abit like me and Gaara." She sweat dropped. "Do I really come out as a wimp who's just annoying to him…?"

Ino had forgotten about the engagement party her mother had planned for tonight, she had even forgotten about the dream she had – although now that she came to think about it, kissing Sasuke in it sure was amazing… but there was something about the thought of it being Gaara. Minus the sand in her mouth, that something was nice. Really, really nice.

_He must have better hobbies than just killing stuff and people_. He just had to, Ino thought. In reality, it was the only aspect of him that bothered her so much. Then again, it was the only aspect of him she knew about. But it scarred her; she didn't know how she was going to survive if she had to live in fear of being brutally mutilated at any moment. If all that depended on his mood and her actions, it just wasn't going to work out. She wondered whether he could be like a normal guy. Infact, he could probably be better, if she ignored his murderous personality she found that… she knew absolutely nothing about him. They weren't right for each other, they just couldn't have been.

_I bet he just needs a little loving; he's probably never had attention from girls before ha. _

_Ding Dong. _

The doorbell rang, and Ino's mother went to open it. Many of the guests had arrived already and they were happily chattering and enjoying the drinks and, in Naruto's case, the food.

"Konnichiwa Yamanaka-san!" Said a cheerful pink haired female to her the older woman.

"Hello Sakura-Chan, Haruno-san, come on in!" Replied Ino's mother to Sakura and her parents.

Sakura walked in with a bunch of flowers and card, and placed them on the table with all the other gifts. She saw a lot of familiar faces and the house was beginning to get pretty crowded. However, Sakura seemed quite disappointed that she couldn't see Ino anywhere.

"Hey Sakura-Chan!" Shouted Naruto.

"Hey Naruto… Have you seen...?"

"You have to try this food!! It's delicious!" Naruto interrupted.

Sakura sweat dropped.

"Maybe later." She headed towards Ino's mother.

"Yamanaka-san, where's Ino?" she asked.

"Oh, she's upstairs in her room… she refuses to come down here for some reason." She then lowered her voice to a whisper. "I think she's worried that Gaara-kun is a little late."

"Oh..." Sakura replied, giggling along with Ino's mother.

_Knock, Knock._

Ino glared at the door.

"Mother I told you, I'm not feeling well I do not want to come down!" she shouted.

"Ino, it's me." Sakura replied from behind the door.

She then opened the door and walked in to find Ino sitting on her bed watching TV.

"What do _you_ want forehead girl." Ino said spitefully.

Sakura glared at her. She then sighed.

"Actually I was going to _congratulate _you and be nice but since you want to be that way then fine! I won't." she crossed her arms and faced away.

"Tch, yeah right you probably came here to celebrate the fact that I'm going to die within a day of that marriage." Ino replied sarcastically.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I think you're extremely lucky…" Sakura's face suddenly turned kind of dreamy.

Ino raised her brow. She had no idea what Sakura was playing at but, she didn't like it. Was she trying to make her feel better by making her feel bad? She knew that didn't make the slightest bit of sense but as it stands; Ino was a very confused person at this particular moment in time.

"I mean, so many girls would have like killed to be in your shoes and all but they just don't have the guts." Sakura twitched a little. "This'll kill every bit of dignity I have but… I admire you, for being able to get the guy everyone wants but everyone is too fearful to do anything about it."

Ino looked at Sakura dumbfounded.

"Have you lost your mind?! How the heck is Sabaku No Gaara, the guy everyone wants?! I thought that was Sasuke!" Ino switched.

"Ino, Ino, Ino… Have you been living in a cave or something? Who said there has to be only _one_ guy that everyone wants?"

Ino's eyes widened.

"You mean… Gaara gets female attention?" She questioned.

Sakura glared at her.

"What kind of question is that… you really must be blind." She said.

_Maybe that's why he's so arrogant and mean... Sigh either way, looks like I was wrong about him, yet again. _

"But Sakura, he's so… scary and mean and psychopathic and -"

"Okay I get it. Look Ino, he's just a little shy, all girls like shy guys." Sakura smiled.

Ino sweat dropped. Sabaku no Gaara… shy? That'd be the day. Ino figured she'd just stay quiet since Sakura obviously had no clue; she planned on showing Sakura how wrong she was about him being shy, and how right Ino was about him being scary and psychopathic and stuff. Ah yes, she'd be sure to enjoy that.

"Anyway, when did you become such a scaredy cat?" Sakura smirked.

Ino glared at her.

"We'll see how much of a scaredy cat I am…." Ino mumbled under her breath and had an evil grin on her face.

Meanwhile….

Ino's mum went to open the door again, and a welcoming grin immediately grew on her face at the new guests.

"Kazekage-sama! Welcome, please come in! I hope your journey wasn't too tiring." She said.

The Kazekage nodded and smiled at the hyper lady. As he walked in, he was followed by his kids, Temari, Kankuro, and the dude of the hour; Gaara.

Mrs. Yamaka's smile widened even more at the sight of her soon to be son in law.

"Hello Gaara-kun! Oh Ino will be so pleased to see you!"

Gaara looked at her with a blank expression. He didn't say anything, he just stood there. Yamanaka-san's smile gradually faded away… she was now looking at him questioningly…

"Em... Gaara-kun?"

Gaara sighed.

"You're in my way" He said simply.

Yamanaka-san looked confused for a while. She then snapped out of it and realized that he was right… so she moved out of his way. Gaara walked past and went to stand next to his siblings, looking to see everyone who was there. He wasn't surprised, nor was he impressed. He knew that tonight was going to be boring from the start. Everyone then began to greet him and his family. His father was sitting next to Ino's father and was happily conversing. However Ino didn't seem to be there.

"So, where is she?" Temari asked.

"How am I supposed to know?! I just came here with you, stupid." Kankuro said to his sister.

"I wasn't talking to you, fathead." She replied viciously.

Kankuro growled at her slightly.

"Hmph. Anyway she's probably killed herself by now; I mean I would if I was a girl who had to be married to Gaara." Kankuro said.

Temari shook her head.

"He's standing right next to you, you dope."

Basically, Temari and Kanguro had been at it throughout the whole journey to Konoha and there was a reason for this. Ever since Kankuro had used Temari's favourite hairbrush to brush his puppets hair, Temari had gotten him back in several ways and they'd been arguing ever since.

//Flashback (that has nothing to do with the story but its fun!) //

Kakuro felt a strange tickling sensation on his forehead and could hear a buzzing noise while he was asleep. He chose to ignore it… well; he didn't really _have_ a choice his conscious just decided to not allow him to wake up because of it. It then stopped and he continued dreaming.

Suddenly he was awoken by a loud voice and two hands tugging at his shoulder vigorously.

"Kagooorooo! Wake up you fathead!" Temari shouted.

Kakuro got up abruptly and glared at Temari, who looked at him for a split second and then began to muffle laughter.

"First, don't call me Kangooroo… If you're going to insult me at least do it right, its kang – a – roo. Second; WHAT THE FLIPPING HECK CAN BE SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU MUST WAKE ME UP FROM MY AFTERNOON NAP!!!?" He screamed.

Temari continued to gaze at him.

"Don't you mean _beauty sleep_?Like heck you need one…" she remarked.

Kakuro fired up and was about to say something insulting when Temari interrupted.

"Anyway there's someone here to see you." She said.

It was a very beautiful girl who was apparently a big fan of him. Little did Kankuro know that that was actually his puppet in disguise and behind all this, was his sister Temari as means of revenge.

…Later, on the way to Konoha….

"Playing with people's emotions was bad enough, but why did you have to go shave my eyebrows off?!!" Kakuro screamed.

"Look at the Brightside, now you and Gaara have something in common as brothers." She laughed. "But you have to admit it was hilarious how you made out with it, your first kiss was with a puppet!"

Kakuro growled.

"What would you know about what my first kiss was?! And it was not funny; I can't look at my puppet the same way again!! All for a stupid hairbrush!"

Temari glared at him.

"Do not call the hairbrush stupid…. You were saying about playing with people's emotions? Yeah, well, it hurts that my BEST brush was snapped in half, it's just not fair…"

Luckily for them, Gaara was well away which how they managed to survive without driving him crazy with their bickering.

// Flashback End (wipes brow) //

Gaara seemed to have been focusing on one person in the room for quite a while, and his siblings hadn't noticed this until now, since they'd just stopped bickering. They decided to overlook it.

"Hey Gaara." Kanguro was grinning. "So, have you decided on who's gonna be best man? I mean, no doubt about it right? Since I AM your older brother and all, and since we ARE tight and I've always been there for you… and cared for you and you know all that stuff. Heh. So who is it going to be?"

"Not you… that's for sure." Gaara replied coldly.

Temari almost fell on the floor laughing. Kanguro was to shocked and hurt to do or say anything.

Once Temari got a hold of her self, she managed to ask.

"S-so, who is it… then?" laugher was still heard in her voice.

Gaara then stood up and approached the other side of the room. He was walking towards a group of people and when he finally reached there he was standing before the one who he had been watching for the whole time.

Sasuke, who was accompanied by Naruto and his older brother Itachi, turned around to meet Gaara's eyes.

"Uchiha Sasuke..." Gaara said.

"…Sabaku no Gaara." Sasuke replied, there was curiosity visible on his face.

"I want to ask you something."

Sasuke had the same face he had in that episode when he was training with Kakashi and Gaara showed up and Sasuke was like "why are you so obsessed with me?" Hahaha that's so sad, considering HE was the one who wanted to know Gaara's name and like find out every little thing about him! (I like Sasuke – I like all the characters! Well most. - by the way, but I found that funny… but I do think Gaara is one of the coolest characters. Wow, I'm SO off topic. Gomen. Let's move on swiftly.)

"Um… shoot." Sasuke said hesitantly.

"I want you to be my best man." Gaara said.

Sasuke's eyes looked like this OO and Kanguro's mouth had fallen to the floor, whereas Naruto and Temari fell to the floor with laugher - that is until Gaara death glared them both and they stopped instantly - and Itachi almost choked on his drink of sake (and then joined Naruto and Temari who were turning purple to try and conceal their laughter fit).

There was a moment of silence before Kanguro broke it.

"You chose HIM over me?!?! How could you?! What has HE ever done for you! I mean, sure I'd understand the little wimp Naruto he helped you see the light and shit but… the Uchiha brat?! You really are insa... oof." Kanguro got blown away by sand before he could finish his sentence.

Gaara then turned to Sasuke again.

"Now that that obnoxious loud tramp is out of the way… what is your answer?" Gaara demanded.

Sasuke's eyes were still like this OO and his mouth slightly open. He then shook his head and looked at Gaara casually.

"Sorry but, I'm not interested. Go find someone else." He said bluntly, turning around on his seat.

Gaara continued to look at Sasuke calmly.

"You might want to rephrase that." He said calmly still.

"Dude, don't get too obsessed I already told y – gahh." Sasuke had sand all around his throat and it almost choked him to death.

"Oo—okk. I-I'll Do... –choke-... it…" He barely managed to let out.

The sand's grip was then released and Sasuke fell to the floor on his knees, and was rubbing his neck and breathing really quickly and coughing occasionally.

"Just what I thought you'd say." Gaara said calmly before he walked away, leaving Sasuke really pissed off and, although he hated to admit it, slightly scarred that he'd seen his life flash before his eyes…

Naruto was laughing uncontrollably as was Temari and Itachi was chuckling.

"T-that was… classic!" Naruto exclaimed wiping a tear from his eye.

"I always knew you were weak little brother, but that was just pathetic." Itachi said whilst taking a sip of sake.

Sasuke glared at his brother as that was all he could do, since his throat hurt too much to talk and he hadn't gotten his breath back properly.

Temari nodded and laughed as she followed her little brother.

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Aww poor Kakuro, I spelled his name wrong to begin with... 

Anyway, do you guys want romace for this story? because I wasn't planning to do romance but people seem to be expecting it so just lemme know! If majority say yes than it'll start and progress on the next chapter if not then other plans are at hand. Thanks for reading and reviewing. :)


	5. Fun crisis

Well my buddy will surely kill me for posting this without her reading first BUT I can't wait any longeeeerrr. It's annoying to have a chapter all ready and not be able to share it with your readers! I'm sure you guys will be glad too, the few who read this story anyway. :)

Thank youuu for the reviews, they make me laugh haha, they're awesome. and thanks for reading too, it gives point to posting these. :P

Warnings kinda:: I don't hate any of the Naruto characters though it may seem that way sometimes in this chapter, in fact I love them all. 3 So dont be thinking I do, it's just the way things have to go. And I think this story is getting crazy, sorry for any possible OOCness, I think I justfy it kinda...

Oh, and... Romance it is! Enjoy.

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**Chapter 5: Fun Crisis... because that's what it is. **(for the readers, not so much for the characters...)

"What, What?! Stop looking at me like that… look at Sasuke or something." Naruto said to Itachi whose head was resting on the table. He looked kinda dead.

Sasuke was sitting next to his brother with an extremely pissed of look on his face like he was going to explode any minute.

"Can't… hic… my head won't move and you're the only thing in sight. Move, teme, your blocking an extremely pretty view." Itachi said languidly.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. He then turned around to see what this _extremely pretty view_ was. To his surprise, it was Ten-Ten. Naruto looked up at the ceiling for a while and scratched his head.

"Y'like Ten-Ten? ….." Naruto then began to laugh. "Itachi you're a perrrvveerrrt!"

"I would have (hic) hit you out of the way if I (hic) could be bothered to move, (hic)." Itachi said.

"Why what's wrong with you? Not that I'm complaining…." Naruto looked puzzled.

Itachi continued to gaze at him.

"Hmm…. Oo I get it! You're sleep talking and sleeping with your eyes open. Wow this guy's really freaky."

Sasuke finally spoke out. (He hadn't said a thing since the Gaara incident)

"You moronic piece of shit! He's drunk! DRUNK! Why can't your stupid pathetic excuse of a brain understand such a simple thing?! Look at all the glasses of sake; use your mind Naruto you dope!" Sasuke said.

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Wow the forever calm Sasuke-teme finally cracked. I really must congratulate Gaara-san of achieving such a thing." He said matter of factly.

Sasuke growled.

"You're not worth my time. Neither of you! And you, Itachi, you're a lame excuse of big brother!" He said before he stormed off.

"Wooah major PMS, Sasuke-kun…………... we should have a brotherly talk about these things." Itachi said as he raised his head of the table, with what seemed like an extreme amount of effort.

Naruto muffled some laughter. However his laughter which filled his facial expression suddenly turned confused… then worried.

Itachi seemed to be looking at him, and his eyes had turned red… yep, the Sharingan.

"Err…. I'm sorry I laughed?" he said puzzled.

However, Itachi was not looking at Naruto. He got up and walked up to a giggling Ten Ten, who was happily conversing with Hyuuga Neji. He sat right in between them, which earned him a couple of strange looks from the pair, and looked ahead of him for a second. He then turned to Ten Ten with a pleasant smile on his face.

"H-(hic) Hi Ten-chan!" He said.

Ten-Ten, who was confused, raised her eyebrow but smiled regardless.

"He-hello Itachi-san." She said kindly.

"You look really pretty today… well not that you don't any other day. You just generally look pretty but somedays you look pretty in different ways and stuffs but its always good pretty." Itachi rambled in his drunken state.

"Umm… thank you." Ten Ten blushed a little.

"Ehem" a voice came from behind Itachi.

He turned around and saw Neji.

"What do you want (hic) little boy." He said.

Neji had his eyes closed he looked somewhat frustrated.

"Go find someone else to bother with your drunken crap. You may be a _Uchiha_ but you're not the only one with a special kekkei genkai so don't flatter yourself by thinking you can do whatever you please and get away with it." Neji stated bluntly.

Itachi looked at him blankly for a while as it took that long for what Neji had said to sink in his intoxicated mind.

"OH and you do?!" he blurted.

Neji just looked at him and raised an eyebrow seeing as he didn't make the slightest bit of sense.

"Listen, just go away okay. Go get sober, and then come talk to me coherently if you wish."

"I'll think I'll get that stick out of your ass right now thank you. Stupid children need lessons (hic)" Itachi said as he got up.

Ten-Ten sweat dropped.

"G-guys, guys… come on there's not need for this. Remember where we are, okay? Ino's engagement party… I'm sure you don't want to spoil it for her…" she tried to negotiate with them, to no avail.

"Ten-Ten, I suggest you stay out of this. It's about time the Uchiha's got put in their place anyway, since they seem to believe they're more than just a branch of a branch of a branch of the Byakugan..." Neji said calmly, and patronizingly.

"Ahhshuutup you pupiless bastard. You're irritating, and don't talk to Ten-chan like that!" Itachi smirked. "And if you insist on insulting the Sharingan you'll get a taste of what its own medicine tastes like! No wait… something like that." Itachi declared war basically.

Neji's eyebrow twitched. _Pupiless… bastard …_

"How dare you insult my bloodline as well as my misfortunes?! I'll kill you with these eyes!" Neji accepted the declaration to war basically.

Itachi cracked up laughing.

"Why, is it your _destiny_ that _fate_ says that you will do so with your ugly eyes? I mean purple is such a faggot colour for guys… It's not even purple its freaking lavender, that's close to pink. HAHA I laugh at you destiny freak! 'Least my eyes are cool, right Ten-chaaannn?"

Ten-Ten blushed, whilst Neji was fuming. He tightened his fist and began to aim it at Itachi. Luckily for him, Itachi had his Sharingan so he was able to mirror Neji's moves and dodge even in his drunken state. However, since he was standing right in front of Ten-Ten, and Neji had attacked with such force that it was too late to get himself to stop; his fist made contact with Ten-Ten's face. This caused Ten-Ten to go flying a couple of feet back and she bashed into a table. Neji had a shocked and apologetic expression in his face and was breathing quite heavily, due to the frustration mainly, whereas Itachi's expression changed, very slowly since he was drunk as hell, to anger.

"IDIOT! You are stupider than my brother and his lame friend, why would you do that to my beautiful Ten-chan?!" Itachi said.

"Teme, it's you're fault! If you hadn't dodged this wouldn't have happened, you'd be the one flying way over there."

"Oh yeeeaahhhh…..?!"

"Shut, UP!!!" Ten-ten, whose hair and clothes were a complete mess not to mention had a red bump growing on her cheek, had walked up to the two boys.

"You sound like an old married couple! I don't know what this is all about but don't go using me as an excuse to solve your stupid family feuds. I wouldn't go out with neither of you if you were the last bastards on this earth!!" she said, leaving the two gobsmacked.

"B-but Ten-chan, I-I didn't say anything about (hic) I mean I'd never use you as a (hic) I…"

"You're right, Ten-Ten I apologize. I will make it up to you, as soon as we leave this place okay?" Neji said, having calmed down a little.

Ten-Ten growled as she looked back at them.

"How about you just kill each other?!" She said as she run off.

Itachi turned to Neji lethargically but with a deadly look in his blood red eyes. Neji got into position and summoned the Byakugan.

Naruto was watching from the little bar area thing, with Sasuke leaning up against the wall, watching too.

"Wow, those guys sure are being retarded." He said.

"What's this? Naruto said something _wise_ for once in his life? Oh boy… I think the world is about to end, we're all going to die!!" Sasuke said sarcastically.

Naruto furrowed his brows.

"Shut up! I guess the world really IS going to end, because Sasuke managed to crack a joke for once in his life!" Naruto responded.

"Idiot. Be quiet, you aren't at my level so don't try to compete with me."

"Yeah, well I'm not the one who got his ass whooped by Gaara-sama." Naruto said spitefully, but with his lips curled to a smirk.

Sasuke looked pissed off.

"Yeah, and since when was he _Gaara-sama_, what are you his bitch now?!" He replied.

"He was Gaara-sama ever since he put Sasuke-teme in his place… Are you jealous and pathetically embarrassed?" Naruto said calmly yet unnervingly.

Sasuke's fingers were making strange movements, the kind that suggested he wanted to strangle Naruto to death. But suddenly, he began to smirk evilly.

"Don't look now, but it looks like the last plate of your _favorite_ snacks is being abolished." He said smugly.

Naruto turned to see what Sasuke was talking about. He was right! Chouji was helping himself to the very last piece… his hand was slowly moving towards it getting closer as Naruto's eyes slowly widened. Naruto leaped and kind of flew in slow motion towards the plate as Chouji's hand was simultaneously getting closer to the snack.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Chouji you fatass pig! Get your hands of that snack; you're obese enough as it is!!!! You don't need it fattie!!!!!" Naruto screamed.

He then fell face first before Chouji, whose hand was hovering above the snack. Chouji blinked twice, and furrowed his brows as Naruto got up breathing heavily.

"What did you call me?" Chouji said, twitching.

"I called you a fatass pig, seriously don't look so shocked. It's nothing you don't already know." Naruto said eyeing the snack.

He tried to get it, but Chouji was evading all his attempts. Naruto became frustrated.

"Hey! What's the big idea, move! I'm doing you a favor!" Naruto said.

"I dare you to say that again." Chouji threatened.

Naruto glared at him.

"Fat…. Ass…..PIG! There, you happy now? Let me have _my_ snack!!"

Chouji's eyes had a deadly glint in them, suddenly he expanded into a giant ball of Chouji as Naruto's eyes widened. He bashed Naruto in the face who almost lost his breath because his face was buried into Chouji's flesh. He then went flying to the other end of the house whilst screaming.

"Fffaaaatttiiiieeeee I'lll geetttt youuuuuuuuuu" He said as he crashed into the window.

However, Chouji was so angry that his attacks didn't stop there. He was now a giant ball of flubber on a killing spree as he went around crazily attacking things… he had no control of himself anymore, really.

Sasuke had taken the liberty of invading Naruto's ex-sitting spot and was laughing his head off at how amazingly he had gotten his own back at Naruto's smartass comments. However little did he was know that karma was just around the corner. Or in this case, right in front of his face. Chouji was headed towards him. Sasuke's eyed widened.

"Oh, shit." He said.

He then leaped out of the way desperately trying to get away from the out-of-control Chouji. He was headed towards Hinata.

Hinata noticed this and looked at Sasuke in a confused way.

_Oh god… Sasuke-kun is headed towards me… B-b-but why? W-what does is he want?_ She thought as she blushed furiously.

_W-what do I do? What do I say? This is so unexpected… so sudden… oh I think I'm going to... I-I think…_

"Move!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sasuke shouted with Chouji rolling behind him at intense speed.

However it was too late, since Hinata had collapsed from intense emotions. _Oh crap…_ Sasuke thought as he tried to move out of the way but failed miserably and tripped up over Hinata's body. He bumped his head into the wall and collapsed next to Hinata. They were then both crushed by Chouji, who then bounced back and into a different direction.

"Sasuke-kun!!!" Sakura screamed. "Help me!!!"

"S-Sakura-san! Please do not run away from me Sakura-san I do not mean you any harm! Sakura-san!! I just want to express my emotions to you while the spring youth is still with me! Please let me do this, it is my dream! I cannot truly become a man unless I tell you how I feel Sakura-san, please understand my circumstances and the eternal love I have for you!" Rock Lee was chasing after her whilst expressing his love.

"No, no, no!!! I don't want to hear it! Get away from me you bushy browed frea- oof!" Sakura had tripped up over Sasuke's unconscious body and fallen flat on her face.

She gasped.

"Hinata-chan? …… Sasuke-kun!!?! Oh my god Sasuke-kun?! What happened to you?! Who did this to you?!!?! I'll kill them!!!" Sakura was going frantic over the peaceful Sasuke (well it was the most peaceful he'd been all day….)

"Sakura-san are you okay?!" Lee shouted.

Sakura had picked Sasuke up at his shoulders and was hugging his head.

"Oh Sasuke, please be okay! I-I'll heal you, I will! I can! I'll save you!!!!"

"Sakura-san please calm down, you are being insane, and it is slightly scary!" Lee suggested, pretty smartly might I add.

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN BUSHY BROWWWS!! MY SASUKE-KUN IS HURT HOW CAN I CALM DOWN!!??!" Sakura screamed as she reached to punch Lee across the face.

Lee rubbed his cheek which had gone red.

"Oh, Lee… I'm sorry… It's just… What is that?!" She screamed as she saw a giant blur of green before she fainted.

Yep Chouji had gotten her and Lee too.

"What the…? Has everyone gone crazy, this party is a complete mess… It's like a mental hospital gone bad." Kiba said as he observed everything that had happened. He was sitting next to Shikamaru and Shino.

Shikamaru sighed.

"How troublesome, I knew I shouldn't have come. Ino owes me big time…"

"I hope Chouji doesn't come this way, I might have to use force if he does." Shino said bluntly.

"Don't worry, I already calculated how everything was going to end up anyway, it's not like I have anything better to do." Shikamaru said languidly.

"How the heck did you do that?!" Kiba asked.

Shikamaru tapped his nose.

"It's simply a matter of math and science."

_Simply…?_ Kiba thought as he sweat dropped.

"Hey guys, sorry about the mess." Chouji said as he walked up to them.

They all shrug it off at the risk of angering him again… especially since he was so close to them….

Chouji fell to one of the seats.

"Jeez, that sure was tiring, I'm hungry." He said.

"You ate like 3 minutes ago…" Kiba said carelessly. "I mean, not that that's a bad thing or anything like that….." He added as Chouji glared at him.

Chouji picked up a sandwich from the table and was about to place it in his mouth. Suddenly, he saw a little black thing with wings hovering about on his nose. He then felt and extremely tickly sensation on his hands. He directed his attention to the sandwich, only to notice that it was covered in bugs! He threw the sandwich to the other side of the room and squeaked.

"Oh by the way, don't eat my bugs." Shino added, rather late.

"W-what?!" Chouji exclaimed.

"They got hungry; I had to give them something…" He explained.

"This is the only food left; everything else was either eaten or destroyed…" Chouji said slowly.

"Not my problem." Shino replied.

Shikamaru slapped his forehead which suggested he was annoyed. Kiba bit his lip and had an "uh-oh…" look on his face as he took Akamaru closer to him protectively.

"Is that ALL you have to say Shino? I… am…. HUNGRY!!" He said as he expanded again.

Shino and Kiba were the fist to be crushed as they were sitting closest to Chouji and so they had no time to think or even act to get out of it.

Temari was watching from a distance with her brother in the corner of the room feasting on popcorn (don't ask where he got that from...)

"Hehehe best engagement party ever, period. I have to kudos Ino and Gaara later." He said to his new puppet who had joined him in watching. _Now how much better would this be if Temari got attacked by that fat dope too…_ he thought whilst glaring evilly at his sister.

As if his prayers had been answered (which they had, by moi ) Shikamaru went flying towards Temari, as he too had been a victim of Chouji's frenzy.

"This is so… troublesome." He said before crushing into the blonde sand shinobi, knocking himself and her unconscious.

Kankuro's eyes widened.

"D-did you see that buddy? They're both down for the count. Temari got was she deserves, broken bones! Mwahahahaha bow to the cursing powers of Kankuro the great!" He said as he huggled his puppet.

Ino had just walked into the room to find everything and everyone in complete chaos.

_What the…_she thought. She then noticed Chouji coming towards her, her eyes widened. She closed them and placed her hand before her face. Suddenly, she felt someone's arm wrap around her waist.

"Look out..." she heard him say as she felt this.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself in the arms of her fiancé; Gaara. He put her down and gazed at her with his usual look.

"You would have gotten crushed if that attack had got you… it isn't safe around these idiots anymore." He said.

Ino nodded and blushed madly. For some reason she had the biggest urge to hug him. He looked so adorable when he showed concern for people, she thought.

"Um, yeah. Should we try to calm them down? Or call the ambulance at least." She suggested.

"Why bother? We have better things to do tonight." He said, and he gave her a slight smile, or smirk… Ino couldn't tell. But whatever it was, she was glad she'd seen it.

Her eyes widened and she blushed even more if that was possible.

"O-oh… we do?" she stuttered.

Gaara took her hand as a reply to her question, and led her outside. She followed him obediently and watched him as the moonlight shone down on them. Ino remembered the bad experiences she had last time she let him trick her into thinking he'd be romantic in the slightest. However she felt things had changed somewhat since then, despite it being a very short amount of time, she just knew she could trust him this time. And besides, there was something different about the look in his eyes this time. It was almost as if she saw him feel something other than murderous intent for the first time. She hoped to see more of this in the near future, because it was nice. It made her feel nice.

* * *

See, I made sure this chapter had something to do with Gaara and Ino... Bye 'till next time.


	6. Who was it?

Err yeah, update. Miracle huh? Sorry I've been slacking alot, thanks for the reviews and the patience. Here's chapter 6 of this story.

_Italics - _character's thoughts.

Lets remember that this is an AU, ne?

Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto.

Enjoy.

* * *

//At Konoha hospital… 

Tsunade looked around the large room full of new patients. She watched them suspiciously; most of them bared faces of distress and excruciating pain. _Hmm..._ Was what she kept repeating in her mind.

"So tell me... what made Gaara do this to all of you? Which one of you idiots pissed him off. Or did he just a get a weird urge again?" She said loud enough to get everyone's attention.

They all seemed to hurt and bruised to reply. But someone did speak out.

"Tsunade-sama, it was not Gaara-kun who did this. I do not know the whole story but I recall Chouji doing most of the damage." Lee said, it was obvious he was hurting by the sound of his voice.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" She said. "Chouji eah….?" She glared at the chubby boy.

"Hokage-sama you can't blame me for this! I can't be held responsible for my actions when people insult me, so if you have to blame someone blame Naruto!" Chouji, who was still inflated and took up most of the room, protested.

Everyone turned to Naruto. He looked back at them with a cheesy grin.

"Heh-heh… he was going to eat the last snack. OUCH!!!" he screamed as he got attacked by Sakura's pillow. Even that soft fluffy thing was enough to cause huge pain in his current state.

"Typical, Naruto." Tsunade sighed whilst everyone was flaming the blonde boy.

Sasuke who was in the corner of the room next to the window, grinned at the sight of a already hurt Naruto about to be send to the emergency room as a bandaged Sakura was approaching him.

"Heh, see what happens when you try to be smart with me Naruto?" Sasuke said. This triggered the blonde boy's memory.

"Yeah well you're the one who provoked it, if you hadn't _purposely_ told me that Chouji was gonna have the last snack!"

Sasuke looked around as all eyes had turned on him. Some, such as Sakura, were shocked whilst others death glared.

"Hmm… so it was Sasuke's fault? Well looks like you'll have to get punished, guys feel free to do whatever with him. I'm still surprised though, I was certain something was going to happen to get Gaara to kill something during that party… " Tsunade said.

"Hey speaking of which, where _did _Gaara and Ino go? Did they get crushed so badly their bodies couldn't be found or something?" This earned Naruto a slap on the back of the head by Sakura.

"Hey guys!!" They heard a loud bubbly voice say. Everyone turned to the source of the noise.

It was Ino with a bunch of flowers on her hands and Gaara standing next to her. All eyes were currently on them.

"I'm sorry about the engagement party; I suppose it was my responsibility since I was supposed to be the host and all heh." She said, with a huge smile on her face.

There was silence still.

"This is slightly suspicious" Naruto said with a detective look on his face.

"What is?" Ino asked.

"What _were_ you and Gaara doing last night on the time that these unfortunate things were occurring?" he said with a perverted grin.

Ino looked at him for a while; she then blushed and grabbed Naruto at the shirt.

"Just what are you suggesting Naruto?!" she screamed blushing still.

Gaara allowed them to continue arguing and walked up to the patient at the very end of the room next to the window. Sasuke's curtain was half closed. Gaara stood at the end of his bed.

"I hope you'll heal quickly enough for the wedding, you _wouldn't _want to miss out on it…." He said in his usual cold voice.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and smirked as he closed his eyes.

"Heh… well it looks like my wounds are so severe, that I won't be healing for a very long time; a couple of months at least" He said smugly, satisfaction clear in his voice.

Gaara's expression remained emotionless.

"Is that so? If that's the case, then it will be a lot longer, if ever, than mere months for you to move again, Sasuke." Gaara said threateningly.

Sasuke looked at him slightly irritated.

"And what do _you _plan to do about it?" He questioned rhetorically. "You can't hurt me otherwise it will ruin your alliance with Konoha."

Gaara's sand began to float around Sasuke's bed. It got closer to the monitor providing liquids crucial for his survival.

"This monitor might just end up getting clogged…" Gaara began.

Sasuke's eyes widened.

"You wouldn't da-"

Gaara grabbed the liquid thing and held it tightly, stopping its circulation to Sasuke's body.

"You know… I'm a Uchiha… we happen to heal pretty quickly... I'm sure it will take days, maybe even hours until I'm able to move again." Sasuke said quickly.

Gaara released his grip and the sand went back to its place.

_What's up with this guy…?_ Sasuke thought.

"What's the big deal anyway, what have I ever done to you?" Sasuke said as Gaara was walking away.

He turned his head slightly to look at Sasuke.

"I don't enjoy the sigh of my own blood, Uchiha."

"So this is all a stupid grudge…?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "And I thought you wanted to torture Ino… Hmmm, maybe Naruto was right, for once, you two weren't…"

Gaara turned to give Sasuke a threatening look in order to shut him up, it was possibly the first time he'd heard Sasuke talk so much, and he didn't like it. Besides Ino and he didn't do anything the night before, well… nothing of the nature that everyone seemed to be suggesting.

He walked past Naruto and Ino who were still arguing and headed for the exit.

"Hey! That bastard didn't even stop to ask how we are! Kankuro, do something!" Temari shouted.

"Why should I? My bones are still intact so it doesn't matter to me. Beside, I want to _keep_ them that way." Kankuro snickered, since he was the only one who hadn't been attacked by Chouji.

"Hey Ino, if you're done trying to finish what Chouji started and destroy the rest of my bones, then you better go after your husband, he's leaving!"

Ino blushed.

"W-what? Oh… Gaara…- oh well." She released Naruto and sat at the nearest chair, which was between Sakura's bed and Naruto's.

"So Ino, what did you guys do last night?" Sakura asked.

"Well, nothing really."

"…" Sakura raised an eyebrow

"Okay so we did something!"

"Interesting, keep going… this is getting good."

"Naruto butt out! This is a conversation between girls, so take your perverted ears OUT of it!" Sakura screamed.

"Jeez, do girls never run out of screaming fuel…" Naruto rolled his eyes as he placed his headphones on.

Sakura turned to Ino smiling, as if urging her to continue.

"Well after that crazy… random… thing, that happened at the party Gaara suggested we go somewhere safer so we did. We just sat down in this grassy area and just, you know, talked." She said blushing.

"Really? S-so, what's he like? At talking I mean, I can't imagine it! What did you talk about?" Sakura questioned.

"Ha-ha I know… well you'll never be able to imagine it when I tell you that I actually enjoyed it." Ino smiled. "He's really… sweet. I actually felt like he was so perfect to talk to, so understanding and unlike most guys, he's not a jerk! I mean you heard what Naruto was suggesting right? I think that's what most guys would try at that situation but, he didn't. I don't know if that's because he doesn't care about me rather than him generally being nice but still."

"Ino, if he doesn't care then he'd just go alone." Sakura looked excited.

"Well, maybe."

"Ino I'm so glad you're finally happy about this marriage! That sounds so amazing, I might even be kind of jealous!" Sakura giggled.

"Are you kidding me?! Who said anything about being happy with the marriage?!"

Sakura's smile faded, she was now completely confused.

"Err, you did? Well maybe not exactly but you like Gaara don't you?"

"NO! Just because he was amazing, and perfect and stuff last night doesn't mean it will be like that forever! Oh God, the wedding… I'm not going to last the honeymoon!"

"I'm confused." Sakura said simply.

"Sakura, you have to help me… what do I do? Let's not forget who I'm getting married too, okay? Gaara still likes to do random killings because he gets some kick out of it or something! What if he runs out of stuff to kill? What if I annoy him so much that he flips?! What if he decides to kill our children?! Do you see how this is not going to work? I'm still scarred shitless, let's not forget the chunnin exams!" Ino's face lit up for a second.

She then turned to Naruto.

"Naruto! Listen, I have a favor to ask, will you do it for me? Naruto? Why aren't you replying?!" She then noticed the headphones, and pulled them off his ears.

"Ouch!! What's the big idea?!"

"I have a favor to ask" Ino smiled.

"Right, what's in it for me?" Naruto grinned.

Ino let out a sigh and then lifted her finger.

"I will treat you to lots of ramen, how's that?"

Naruto's eyes widened.

"How much ramen are we talking?" Naruto's grin widened.

"However much you want! Now listen! You're coming to my wedding right? Well sometime during the ceremony there's a part that goes "blah blah are there any objections?" something along those lines. When that part comes I want you to object! Okay? And make it good. It's my only hope." Ino explained.

Naruto starred off into space for a moment.

"Wow... that's a lot of ramen."

"Huh?"

"I'll do it! You can count on me Ino, so long as you don't forget your part of the deal!" Naruto grinned.

"Yaaa! Thank you!" Ino hugged Naruto almost to death.

//At a random rooftop.

Gaara was standing there watching the sky mindlessly. He allowed the cool morning breeze to shuffle his hair and robes. He was wondering about the stuff that awaited him… a wedding. _Hmm. _He pondered. The thought didn't really make a difference to his emotions. He didn't feel sickened; he didn't feel happy or particularly excited about it. He just wanted it to be over and done with because the commotion it was causing irritated him.

The bride? The one who he was going to spend the rest of him life with? She didn't make a difference either. As long as he could continue being a shinobi and fulfilling his urges when they came; as long as she didn't get in his way then she didn't really matter. He knew he could never get attached to her in any way; he wasn't attached to his own flesh and blood, they couldn't change him so she couldn't either. He knew he'd be kazekage one day, and for that he knew he'd have to have a family of his own, it was almost inevitable. However he knew it would never be about love or anything of the sort.

_I only love myself._

That's what his philosophy had been, and sure when he lost that fight with Naruto he questioned it a little – but it hadn't changed. It was the only way for him. He bared the marks and they'd never leave, so it was the same for his feelings. They'd never change.

* * *

Man I'm so glad the fillers have finally ended, the new Naruto Shippuuden seems uber promising - SASORI is finally making an appearance:D -fangirling- anywhos. 

I wanted to show Gaara's view on this, since I havent written his views in the past I think. This is how I personally, and my buddy (I think), feel Gaara would react to a marriage situation and what he'd think of it. You don't have to agree of course but I believe that if I made him care anymore than that, he would not be Gaara, he would a made up dude that I made up, ya know? I tried to kick in some romance, and get rid of the cliff hangers and add more Gaara-Ino and less stupidness (although I think I failed at the less stupidness part.. err shhh). Hope everyone's satisfied. :D

Oh and, sorry for the crappy writing 'skills'. I try, I haven't read over the chapter properly but I felt bad for not updating in so long so it's better than nothing right? Now I leave you with the burden of waiting the next chapter. Err yeah... Lemme know what you like and dont like so that I can try to write better next time!


	7. Contemplation

Hello! I'm really, really sorry for the amount of time you had to wait for this, gahh... I dont have any excuses really, I wrote it ages ago just didn't get the chance to post it... gomen nasaii..

Um but, this story will be ending soon just about 2 more chapters to go! Thanks everyone for all the critiques and comments, I try to keep them in mind when writing it so that the writing quality gets better.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Gaara furrowed his brows in annoyance as the glistering morning sun shone on his face from the window. He turned to his left side in order to block out the sun and fall asleep again. After a couple of moments of shuffling and turning, he decided that it was pointless to attempt sleep again and got up from his bed, throwing the cover out of the way. Indeed, it was strange for him to have a morning like this, as he was usually there to watch the crack of dawn light up the land no matter where he was. However the night before, he had decided he was going to get some rest and though it was not as easy as he thought it to be, being the insomniac he was, he eventually managed to feel emotionally calm enough to catch a glimpse of sleep.

He walked into the kitchen, yawing slightly on his way there; surprisingly enough he felt more tired now that he had slept than when he didn't get any sleep at all. He shrugged this thought off and reached into the fridge, grabbing a milk carton and a glass from the cupboard. He filled the glass up with milk, and took it to the balcony with him, after putting the carton in its rightful place. When he had gotten there, he leaned by the cold stone frame that surrounded the balcony and watched as the sun rose from beyond the mountains of Konoha, as he took a sip of his milk. Whilst watching this magnificent sunrise, he remembered what day it had been, and the reason why he decided to get some sleep in the first place;

It was the day of his wedding.

He found this concept rather strange. It had come a lot sooner than he had imagined and more importantly, why was _he_ chosen to marry in order to form an alliance? He found it rather ironic, how he had started off being the sand village's trump-card for times of war, and now his purpose had shifted, rather dramatically, to aid in forming alliances with other countries. He really was just a tool, he thought. And the more he thought this way, the more he began to dislike this wedding. Regardless, it wasn't as strange as the person they had chosen for him to marry.

He could understand that he was the Kazekage's son and so it made sense to chose him, but the girl, Ino… why her? Was it that they thought she would go along with it without any fuss? He doubted that very much, being the loud-mouth she was. He figured the most logical explanation was that she'd be the least scarred out of the other girls, therefore the best match. That she'd be able to tame him, and soften him. He snorted some milk out at this thought. Tame Sabaku no Gaara? He knew that Ino would agree in saying that that was a very unlikely thing to happen; otherwise she wouldn't have tried to stop this so badly, and been so inco-operative. If he cared, Gaara would have felt kind of bad for her. He knew he wouldn't ever give her the kind of attention and care she wanted, and despite it all he thought that maybe she deserved something like that. But Gaara was not one for compassion, he was alive and, questionably, healthy without even knowing what that kind of attention was, so why would he care whether he gave it someone else or not? He did not see the harm in being married to her and yet not really caring about her in that way. Having spoken to her some, he realized that that kind of affection was what she truly wanted, even if she didn't say it directly.

Of course, he understood what this marriage meant. He would no longer be a boy, but a man. This gave him duties… family related duties. If this marriage was to happen successfully, which he still had many doubts over, he knew he'd have to provide and the such. His father was growing weak, and as the role of Kazekage was nearing him, he knew it this wouldn't be a problem. So what was the point in all this really? She would be miserable, and he just simply wouldn't care. All of a sudden, a feeling of melancholy swept over him, as he reached his hand by his chest and grasped his vest tightly.

_I wonder if that's how mother's life was…?_ He thought.

"K-Kakuro! W-wake up, Gaara is… he's…!!" Temari run into her brother's room and shook him vigorously.

"W-what? What happened?" The dazed man shouted.

"I don't know... He's not in his room... He might have run for it! I mean I've watched movies and all, but never seen one called 'run-away-groom'!"

Kakuro breathed in deeply. He was extremely aggravated. "Did you check the whole house, including the rooftop, or just his room?" he questioned.

Temari pondered on this for a while. She then grinned sheepishly.

"O-oh… Oops, sorry, it's only normal for a sibling to panic on a day like this, Heh Heh… I'll go look around the house for the groom-to-be." She apologized.

As she walked past the living room she noticed the tall red head by the balcony, his back facing her. She felt silly for having missed him that easily. Then again, she really was excited about today. Like everyone else, she had hoped that this would give Gaara some form of happiness that he never had the chance to feel before. Little did she know that her brother's intentions were un-changeable. Regardless, it was a rather fascinating thing to watch him grow; he had definitely changed his view on life over the years, despite how little the change might have been. It did leave some room for at least the slightest form of warm emotion.

"Ohayo otouto! You're up early." She said, smiling pleasantly at him.

Gaara looked at her vaguely. "Yeah." He said.

"How do you feel, huh? You only have a little while left before I start fussing and urging you to get ready." She joked.

Gaara simply shrugged, as he continued to watch the sun rise higher up the sky. Temari laughed a little and she leaned by the balcony too, joining her younger brother. She breathed in the fresh morning air.

"Ah. It looks like today's weather is going to be perfect. You know, this hobby of yours is pretty calming, no wonder you're always so mellow." She giggled. There was a slight pause. "Look, Gaara, I know you probably don't care about anything I tell you, but it would be really great if you could try to enjoy today… I know everyone else would enjoy it especially, if you did too."

Gaara remained unresponsive as he rolled the glass around, causing slight waves in the milk, like a disturbed ocean. His other hand was supporting his cheek and he continued to look ahead.

"After all, this is your special day, ne?" Temari sighed. "I guess it's more special to me than it is to you…"

"Why would it be special to you…?" Gaara asked his sister.

"Well, the past few days, I've been able to talk to you more, without worrying about pissing you off and that. I guess I just want to see you happy, otouto." She replied, her smile was slightly sadder now.

"You've seen me happy lots of times." Gaara continued.

Temari raised her brow. She then smiled again.

"No, no, that's not what I mean. I want to see you genuinely happy. Not the kind of happy that still hurts you, and scares your brother and me… and, I don't want to have to ask whether I can hug you or not either." She added.

Gaara turned to look at her curiously; his face didn't show any particular emotion, however.

"May I hug you little brother?" Temari smiled.

Gaara raised an eyebrow. He was rather confused, but he didn't care to ask, he knew his sister was strange to begin with. So he stood straight, faced her and nodded slightly as a sign of approval. Temari's face light up as she embraced her brother in a hug.

After she released her grip, Gaara raised the glass of milk in front of her face. Temari looked at it, baffled.

"Take this to the kitchen, now." He said slowly, as he handed the older woman the cup and headed of.

Temari frowned, and grinned in annoyance; she had a little anger vessel on her forehead. _That little bastard… _she thought.

Else where in Konoha…

Ino was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. Unlike her fiancé, she hadn't slept a wink. Just like she was when she first met him, she was scared and annoyed. She still didn't want to marry him, despite the little outbreaks of him showing some kind of care. She had made different plans for herself when she was younger; namely Sasuke. Regardless, now that she was older, though she still fussed a lot over him, Sasuke didn't matter as much anymore. The bottom line was she didn't want to marry the sand shinobi and that was it. It was so unfair that she had to have an arranged marriage, when all her friends and Kunoichi her age got to chose such a thing. And what she didn't understand was why he didn't protest against it. Surely if he did, there was not a creature in hell that could have this marriage continue. Ino sighed deeply.

She hadn't seen much of Gaara during the past 4 days after the engagement party. That night, as she vaguely explained to Sakura, they did talk to each other. And surprisingly enough, they spoke of insignificant things that didn't really matter, things that were to come, and the past, which they very vaguely touched on. Surprisingly, Gaara hadn't tried to shut her out that time. He did contribute, even if very little, and on her behalf she didn't ramble on like she usually would. Ino thought he had changed a little, he was calmer and hadn't said or done anything sadistic. Of course, he was still cold and he certainly didn't care about her like two people who were about to marry; she knew such a thing could never happen in such a short time. Although, if he could be like he was that night, maybe Ino wouldn't mind. So what was her problem exactly? Simply the fact that Gaara was so unstable. She could not be sure that he would stay like that, or that she'd be able to take it, and although it didn't look it, Ino was cautious. She didn't want to go ahead with it if it was going to end tragically, or remain like some kind of zombie relationship where no one gave, and no one received.

Ino let out a deep sigh.

She remembered back to two night's ago at the flower shop. Just when she had decided she was going to go along with and hope for the best, he had spoiled it by telling her _not to get her hopes up._ It seemed that Gaara liked to play with her like that; once her state of mind was calm about the relationship, he'd say or do something to completely change that. So she had approached a different way.

///Flashback.

"So, which suits me best?" she smiled pleasantly at him.

He looked at her vaguely, and uninterestingly.

"You know, you're the one that's going to have to look at me on that day, so you might as well let me know when I look at least okay for you." She had gotten a little angry.

"I don't like flowers." He said bluntly.

She sighed and sat down opposite him and gingerly supported her head with her knuckles. There were a few vague moments of silence; it was a quiet afternoon and so hardly anyone was out at that time, many people were either too busy or asleep. Only the rustling of the trees against the wind could be heard in these moments of silence. Eventually, he had got bored and so decided to get up.

"I won't see you until the wedding." He said as he stood by the door.

She moved her eyes towards him lazily; as the door hit against the little bell, which had been put there to warn of any customers, it made a small jingling noise. He had left.

She then continued to water flowers and arrange them and such, not really bothered about the fact that it hadn't quite gone how she'd wanted yet again. She was pretty much used to that by now. As she was humming quietly to her self whilst arranging some flowers, she heard the bell again. Her eyebrow rose with curiosity; had he returned?

"Gaara, are you – oh…. Shikamaru?" She said, as the lazy shinobi had walked into the shop carrying a bag.

"Hey Ino." He said languidly. "Did you have a fight with Gaara or something, he looked pissed?" He asked, even someone like Shikamaru was curious enough to ask.

"No, I wouldn't still be moving if we 'fought'" she replied.

"That's not what I mean- oh too troublesome. Here I have a delivery for your mum, from mine." He said as he placed the parcel on the counter. "Thanks" Ino smiled. Shikamaru nodded hinting a 'no problem' as he was about to head out.

However he was stopped before the door as he heard Ino's voice.

"Hang on! I want to ask you something." She said running up to him.

He then turned around and watched her.

"Can you help me decide what flower arrangement I should use for the wedding? I need a second opinion but, Gaara didn't really care much about it so I couldn't get his." She said.

Shikamaru looked somewhat irritated.

"Why should I do it, if your own groom-to-be didn't care?" He said.

Ino looked at him for a moment. She then turned to the flowers.

"Oh, I just thought it'd be nice to have another opinion and since you were here and all… I-it's okay though, I'll just ask Sakura or someone later or tomorrow…."

Shikamaru noticed how upset she looked, although she was trying hard to hide it. He sighed. "How troublesome" he said to himself so that Ino didn't hear.

He then picked out some flowers at random. "This is good." He said as he handed them to her, not really looking at what he had picked.

"Thank you." She smiled. "It's perfect."

///End flashback.

Ino wondered if Gaara would ever be like that; do something regardless of whether he liked it or not, just so that it could make her happy. She very much doubted that.

_"I still have Naruto… he better not blow it." _ She thought, still intending to go ahead with the "objection" plan. She was certain, though, that she was doing Gaara a favor too – he obviously hated this as much as she did, although he probably enjoyed torturing certain people along the way thus why he hadn't said anything. There was also the possibility that he didn't want the burden of being paired up with another Konoha Kunoichi.

"Innoo!!" She heared her moher call, and with that got up... this was going to to be a long day.

* * *


End file.
